While that left the 26-year-old well-poised in the individual event, he and Scott's 1-over total leaves them six shots adrift as they try to win the World Cup for Australia for the first time since 1989.

His second went deep into a thick grove of trees and he was unable to play that either.

Even that found the rough, his sixth went over the green and he needed a chip and two more putts to complete the horror hole.

"Just a couple of lazy swings today on 12 and I paid the price," Scott told reporters.

But he hasn't ruled out a comeback victory, saying with Royal Melbourne's greens getting faster it might not take any spectacular low rounds to rein in the leaders.

"If I can plug away at it I'll maybe claw my way back into it," Scott said.